


the quiet

by rosewitchx



Series: "it's a hoot that you don't get why we need this." [14]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Everyone Is Gay, Except Tony, Fix-It, Fix-It of Sorts, Happy Ending, Hopeful Ending, Hurt Tony Stark, LGBTQ Themes, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Spoilers, Temporary Character Death, Tony is bi, fuck the ugly purple raisin!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2019-05-02 09:40:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14541927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosewitchx/pseuds/rosewitchx
Summary: there's no reply for days.it's all so silent.(he hates it.)(he misses peter's incessant chatter so badly.)





	the quiet

**Author's Note:**

> spoilers for iw ahead

the bus gets trapped under the rubble and peter's heartbeat is getting faster.

he holds ned's hand for less than a second, steadying himself. he spots the alien ship above them. he knows what's about to happen.

he pretends the remains of the bridge above their heads don't bother him. he gives need one look, just one, and says with his eyes what he fears he might not tell him again, like he does every time he goes on patrol, like any time they're out on the streets.

but he doesn't speak those words. instead, he says: "get everyone out of here. and call mr. stark."

he slips the mask on and their classmates gasp ( _holy shit, no way, he can't be_ ). mj stands, immediately ushering everyone out through the only window that wasn't blocked out, while peter forces his way through the wreckage on the opposite side.

"peter," ned says, while peter's still in hearing range. his best friend turns back at him and waits. "you better come back. you promised we'd marathon star wars again."

peter can't help but smile. "ned, you—"

and right that instant, ebony maw lands in front of him and flings debris at peter. he avoids it skillfully, only getting grazed by small shards, and jumps on top of it; it makes the bus shake. the kids still inside cry out in panic.

peter looks at ned just once.

and then he screams, "go!"

ned helps a girl out of the bus before getting out himself. he pulls out his starkphone, fumbling at the screen and dialing peter's mentor. he puts the device on his ear and waits — not a second has passed before mr. stark replies.

"ted," he answers. he can hear the engines of the iron man suit roaring in the distance.

"we— we were attacked. peter is fighting an  _alien_ right now."

"okay. great. perfect. thanks for telling me. i'm on my way, guy in the chair, so you better get away from there  _now_."

the call ends. mj looks at him. everyone looks at him, actually. "we need to move," she says, acting so strong as if ned can't see the way her eyes water and how she holds herself. "it's dangerous here."

"but peter," ned says. he steps towards the bus just as more concrete hits it; except it wasn't concrete, it was peter slamming into it and then fighting back.

" _ned,_ we have to go," she insists. "he can do it. believe in him."

for once, he's so, so grateful flash wasn't there to prove his ass wrong. he doesn't think he could've handled that.

instead, he looks at the spaceship and prays things go well, before slowly walking back to his classmates and leading the way out.

  


   


   


"ned?"

peter's voice through his cellphone, although garbled, is a blessing. he stares up at the sky from their refuge in downtown manhattan as the spaceship fades, above his head, into the universe; he has a bad feeling he knows where his boyfriend is.

"please tell me you're not going to space. i mean— that's cool as  _fuck_ , but i'd rather have you here?" he hears peter laugh awkwardly and his heart sinks.

"yeah... about that," he begins. the audio quality is growing worse with every passing second, and he's scared the call might fail at any second. "we're gonna go get the aliens. well, i have to find mr. stark and the wizard first—"

"please come down here. peter, i—"

"i can't. they— what if they come back?" peter sighs. "may, mj, and you, you'd all be in danger. i have to stop them before that happens."

ned can barely hear peter now. he holds back tears and nods, even though peter can't see. "okay. stay safe. i love you."

"i love you too, s—o much. i—  _b-c_ k— p _r-is_ —"

and karen tells him: "peter's out of range," just as the spaceship zooms out of existence.

ned isn't very religious. he doesn't think there's a god, or gods; asgardians are the closest thing to that and they're basically overpowered humans. and humans have beaten them before. besides, if there really were an omnipotent being above their heads or whatever, how come he's allowed so much tragedy and pain to happen to so many people? he just doesn't trust the guy.

still, ned can't ever be sure. so, just in case, he closes his eyes and prays for peter.

  


   


   


ned wakes up in the middle of the night when his mom screams.

(well. he didn't  _really_ sleep at all. he was too busy worrying about what might happen, what if peter doesn't come back, what if they all die gruesome deaths—)

he runs to the kitchen. his dad had been drinking water.

the glass is shattered on the clear tiles underneath him. his mom is on the floor, holding herself as she weeps. there's a pile of ashes next to her, dirtying her fingers, dampened by her tears and by the spilled water, and ned is lost.

"mom?"

there's a car crash on the street. and another. he hears his neighbor, elderly mrs. carter, cry for help. on the floor above him, someone tumbles and falls.

"he — your dad, he — he  _vanished_ —"

ned is so utterly confused it doesn't even cross his mind; what has actually happened.

he thinks:  _What Would Peter Parker Do?_

get his mom to safety.

so he does his best and bunkers them both inside their tiny, tiny bathroom.

then: he calls mj.

she doesn't answer.

he calls again.

she doesn't answer.

(what if they all die gruesome deaths, oh fuck—)

he stops calling. he searches his twitter feed; mass hysteria is spreading through the world. the avengers haven't released an statement yet. it's been two hours. the president and secretary of state are dead, same with several other world leaders, ceos and actors and actresses. tony stark, along with his ally spider-man (reportedly sixteen-year-old peter parker, high schoolers can't keep fucking secrets apparently), hasn't returned yet.

(what if peter doesn't come back!)

ned locks his phone screen and huddles closer to his mom.

there's no reply for days.

it's all so silent.

(he hates it.)

(he misses peter's incessant chatter so badly.)

  


   


   


tony stark is brought home three days later by a blue alien. she's basically forcing him out of her spaceship; he looks haunted, empty, even though he's bleeding out of his side.

steve rogers comes get him. he's as broken inside as tony, apparently. he catches him just as his knees buckle underneath him. "tony," he breathes out.

god, he's so glad he's still alive. after all that's happened — tony's last memory of him won't be getting beat up by his own hands and then leaving him in siberia.

rhodey stands behind steve. he looks at the blue alien, then peeks inside the ship: there's a lot more seats than just two, but there's no one else inside.

"tony, where's the kid?," he asks.

tony doesn't reply. he doesn't even look at him. he just stares at the void.

the blue alien answers instead: "he's dead."

tony starts sobbing.

  


   


   


ned and his mom are moved to the avengers facility by the black widow. he's apparently the only person with any connection to peter that survived (may didn't make it, mj hasn't checked in yet, he wants to cry so desperately). he's hoping, as he waits for anyone to tell him what's going on, that peter's all right, that he's not— not—

then he reads it, on twitter: tony stark has returned to earth and is in a critical state.

the black widow comes fetch him. they're going to wakanda, she says. his mom will be alright: no one else is dying.

"is peter okay?," he asks, but she's gone before he finishes the sentence.

when he arrives at wakanda, he witnesses the destruction caused by the battle. he's received by the newly-crowned queen shuri; no one challenged her in ritual combat. she leads him in near silence to wherever the (remaining) avengers are.

it's a big room. the hulk could probably do laps in there. but there's only five people inside, besides shuri and himself: colonel rhodes, steve rogers, a recovering tony stark,  _thor_ , and the blue alien that appeared all over the news. there's no sign of peter here either, and he's starting to panic when steve asks him to sit down.

he does as he's told and asks, "where's peter? is he okay?"

tony, who up until this point hadn't even looked at him, flinches. rhodey rubs his back softly and drapes him further in his blanket.

steve inhales and doesn't meet his eyes. "i'm sorry, kid."

(what if peter doesn't come back? what then? what else could he do? he hadn't thought about that, refused to believe it could ever happen. not to him, not to sweet, pure, saint peter, not to  _him_ )   


ned feels the waves crashing against him as his world crumbles.

  


   


   


so much time has passed, but they finally get him back.

they get everyone back, actually; he imagines his mom must be overjoyed. he stands on the rubble of new york, as he had those years before, and stares at the boy clad in red and blue.

"peter," he breathes out.

he's older now, just like him, but his eyes water all the same when they spot him. peter seems to glow amidst the dust clouds and crimson lights, and ned runs to him, stumbling on the wreckage of the world as he falls into his arms.

"ned," peter whispers, his voice choked. "ned,  _ned_ , oh my god, ned," and he just keeps going and ned is gonna have a heart attack, so he just lungs forward and kisses him a bunch to shut him up.

("ned," peter says, and it's the sweetest sound in the world.)

peter's crying, ned realizes. actually, he might be crying too. whatever. fuck toxic masculinity. he just recovered his literal, actual soulmate. he can cry if he god damn wants to.

"you know," he says then, wiping away at peter's tears (never mind his own, they don't matter at all), "you kinda left me hanging on that marathon."

and peter laughs. far away, he can hear mr. stark crying, holding ms. potts tight, and captain america drowning his two boyfriends in smooches. he can hear the guardians laughing, thor sobbing as loki and their people reunite with him, and wanda and vision together again, and shuri and t'challa shouting at each other, already fighting over something meaningless, as okoye tries to pull them apart (nothing ever will, never again). but in that moment, it all goes silent. all he hears is peter laughing.

and even if they've yet to pay the price, ned doesn't care: he'd gladly die right now if it meant hearing that laugh again.

"well, i kinda didn't feel anything for two years, so maybe not star wars, but i'm down for anything!"

( _it made sense, he literally died in a star war, ptsd was probably a thing, ned feels like an idiot_ )

"okay. no star wars."

ned spots mj and may in the distance. they're rushing over where they stand, and ned suddenly wants to reach towards them, too.

"dude, look."

peter turns around and he's weeping in an instant. mj and may collapse all over them. it's a big weeping pile. eventually, mr. stark joins the sadness bulge and they all stay like that for a long, long while, until a dude in a red cloak and another dude with a cool cloak and an eyepatch come to untangle them all.

they marathon the office's first season inside the avengers compound. peter holds his hand tightly and never lets it go.

there's still a threat. imminent, peter tells him that night, as they lay sleepless underneath the stars. it's just a matter of time.

but for now, ned decides, as he leans against him, that he doesn't care: thanos himself could come rip them apart and he wouldn't move an inch.

for now, they're alright.

**Author's Note:**

> some of us write sad stuff to COPE???
> 
> edit: @ ao3 why did you post this work seven times. why did u cross me like this


End file.
